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Category Archives: Maine

Out in the weather that calls for it, but also when I wash dishes. Always, when I wash dishes.

I’m sure this wasn’t always the case, though.

My mother’s hands, which look just like mine, seem however to lack the nerve endings that denote pain. In my childhood home, I never recall actually seeing a pair of latex gloves. Even scrubbing toilet bowls at the motel, I don’t remember protective gloves being an option.

But the first home with my name on the mortgage was old and its original plumbing was installed long before the notion of anti-scald. Not having inherited my mom’s ability to withstand oven-hot heat with bare hands, I opted for gloves. With toxic-burn temps, I would have risked serious injury if I even rinsed a glass or bowl without the gloves. I understand that a more rational person might have taken the time to find that sweet middle spot on the faucet that denoted warm -not me.

So I donned gloves. Really good, rubber gloves.

And the idea stuck.

Now still, to rinse a single glass or cup, I put on my yellow gloves and wash away. Those observing the procedure often note that it takes me more time to retrieve the gloves from under the sink and put them on than it does to wash the item. True.

Still, the gloves endure.

I have a set for New Hampshire. I use the hidden trove in Maine.

Where am I going with this?

Well, first off, you’ve got to understand (by now) I never really know for sure.

And second –I just washed something without the damn gloves.

And discovered something.

Without the gloves, not only did I feel the not-unpleasant warmth of the water (this newer plumbing doesn’t answer with third-degree burns) but I also felt what I missed on the utensil –the bit of cheesy dough left behind.

If you’re still following –all this was a set up.

With or without rubber gloves, I’ve always known exactly what to do to protect myself.

Thus, I get it when I watch a few of my students do the same.

Not so much with me –they seem to come gloveless to our sessions. But in their lives, with their friends, in a classroom, some of them don their own protective shields.

I can relate.

I don’t always understand the connections I have with these young adults. Kelley instructs that it isn’t necessary that I do. Informs me that I may never understand why or how I fit into their lives.

On the other hand, I acknowledge that a connection does exist and try occasionally to light a path if where they’re headed seems familiar.

I’d say this then to those wearing gloves.

Sometimes, you have to risk the feel of that searing heat, getting scalded, knowing first hand pain –to get to the details of your life you could be missing.

And the pleasant warmth that you can only feel when hand touches hand -and risks it all.

Michael was in first grade when I summoned the strength to make the right decision and put my cocker spaniel down. Nicki was 17, old, sad. I had known much sooner than I acted, that it was time to let go.

I just couldn’t.

And then one day, I could.

And I did.

I went by myself, told no one but the immediate family.

I thought I handled it well enough when I told Alex and Michael, when I gave them a chance to say goodbye. Maybe not.

I received a note from Michael’s teacher the next day.

Apparently during “pretzels” time when the kids shared the likes and dislikes of their day, Michael said that he hadn’t liked when his mother killed his dog.

Hmmm.

We had to put our dog down again.

Technically, this one wasn’t ours. But with only one in the family, we all laid claim to the little guy at one point or another.

I told Michael what was coming, offered the idea of going by Auntie Dawna’s to say goodbye to Logan.

He took a pass.

Logan was a good dog.

As his aunt, I took on an occasional dog sitting shift or two. Last summer, he and I got in quality time on the beach in Maine. During designated doggy hours, I walked/he ran; I threw/he fetched. We played, made friends –mostly the four-legged kind- and took in vistas of the Atlantic surf that force the deep intake of an appreciative breath. Salty sea air –cures all that ails you.

Well, apparently not all.

Logan left us just before this year’s Fourth of July beach party.

Appropriate, since he wasn’t a fan of the fireworks.

We’ve put off fully processing his departure.

But we did much processing beforehand.

Somewhere in the midst of those many conversations, I would offer the observation that we often handle end-of-life decisions for our pets far more humanely than we do for the people in our lives. With our pets, we formulate a plan and take steps of action that assure they leave us without pain and with a form dignity intact.

There are always conversations unsaid, hands not held, hugs not given.

We want another year, another week, or just a day. A single moment, even.

When Logan left us, he could still run the beach, fetch a tennis ball. The last memory we’ll all have of him is likely a happy one. I wish I could say the same was always true about the people in our lives.

Most of us know rationally the steps we could take to offer a compassionate ending to those we love. But we hesitate, just a bit –and it’s usually just a bit too long.

Our hearts hold out for the chance of that one more moment, even when our heads know it’s time to let go.